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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28219920">Give Jake Park a Raise</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/BiscuitJams/pseuds/BiscuitJams'>BiscuitJams</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dead by Daylight (Video Game)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Asshole Nea Karlsson, Bastard Feng Min, F/F, Friendship, Gamer Terminology, Girls in Love, Humor, Jealousy, Pining, Swearing, Wingman Jake Park, me going into heavy depth about in-game mechanics and little lore bits because i fucking can, now go on. Read, post-game chat is also a thing here because i fuckign SAID SO.</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-21</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 14:54:49</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>10,407</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28219920</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/BiscuitJams/pseuds/BiscuitJams</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Nea is madly in love with Feng. Jake is her wingman. Jake and Feng kind of can't stand each other.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Dwight Fairfield/Jake Park (implied), Feng Min &amp; Jake Park, Nea Karlsson &amp; Jake Park, Nea Karlsson/Feng Min</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>22</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Give Jake Park a Raise</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>reading oddfellows back in june or july suckerpunched me in the gut and in living memory dealt the finishing blows. so thanks to the two best contributions to dbd ao3!</p><p>anyway, this took exactly a month to finish working on! the first rendition of neologism (which will still be available to read though i rec you don't because it. sucks) was done in 2 days and kind of my first little love letter to dbd. i ended up kind of hating it though so me being me, i took that and rewrote it entirely by adding fengnea and an actual backbone to it. this was the product of that.</p><p>oh, and also mentioned in the tags but i may as well elaborate on. there are like A LOT of instances of me just rambling about ingame lore/mechanics because i have 1k hours in this game and even more spent on it being my main interest but at best you can appreciate my efforts to do that and at worst you can ignore it and keep reading. loooots of the other survivors mentioned, i'm just not gonna take literally all of them bc they're pretty much all just bg characters.</p><p>AND! BECAUSE THIS WAS TOO MUCH FOR THE TAGS! there's also some of me describing game mechanics and it'll sound like gibberish to anyone that has never played but dw! it's not like it's super necessary to understand anyway so you can just keep reading, it's fine.</p><p>had a lot of fun with this and there's not enough fengnea out there in the tag so enjoy!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“So yeah. It wasn’t the best trial,” Dwight laughed. Jake shook his head. What a mess.</p><p>The two of them perked up at the sound of something crackling. When they sat up, they saw Zarina burning back into existence in front of the campfire.</p><p>“Zarina!” Kate exclaimed. “How did it go? Did you make it out?”</p><p>Zarina smiled. “Yeah. It was a close one, but I escaped with—”</p><p>“Felix!” Feng shrieked. Jake rolled his eyes. She had been sulking earlier, refusing to talk about the trial, but now she was up from her seat and jabbing her finger into Felix’s chest. The poor bastard hadn’t even materialized completely yet. “You fucking idiot! Why would you farm me off of my death hook in front of the <em> Cannibal </em> ? Are you literally fucking stupid? The killer <em> known </em> to shut down farming because he literally has a <em> chainsaw? </em> Did you not see me DS him earlier that round? You didn’t even have BT! The Hell is wrong with you?!”</p><p>Felix blinked. “Ah, Feng… What is a DS?”</p><p>Feng turned to Nea with an incredulous look in her eyes as if to say ‘Can you <em> believe </em> this guy?’ Nea shook her head as if to say she really couldn't.</p><p>Jesus Christ. Incomprehensible nonsense. Jake couldn’t even understand half the things she had just said.</p><p>“Can you stop saying ‘farming’ and just say ‘unhooking in front of the killer?’” he asked. “How are those even connected?”</p><p>Feng turned to Nea with an incredulous look in her eyes as if to say ‘Can you <em> believe </em> this guy?’ Nea shook her head as if to say she really couldn't. From behind Feng, Zarina cleared her throat, not looking terribly amused.</p><p>“Well, <em> Feng, </em> ” she began. “Maybe if you hadn’t <em> forced </em> it so early in the match, you wouldn’t have been in that situation.”</p><p>“Fuck you!” Feng spat. “I play however the Hell I want. It’s not my fault if you guys are fucking stupid!”</p><p>“And it’s not Felix’s if you are, too,” Zarina interjected. “He made a mistake. You did as well. Own up to it and just be glad the two of us made it out when you and Dwight didn’t.”</p><p>“You can’t be fucking— just look at him! This idiot’s been here for two months, and he’s still throwing every match he’s in!” Feng shouted. “Why are you all still going easy on him?! He should know better by now!”</p><p>Jake glanced at him. He was unhappily dragging himself back over to the log Adam, Jeff, and David were seated at. He may not have liked him much, but even Jake could feel a little bad for him.</p><p>“Min,” Adam finally spoke up, placing a comforting hand on Felix’s shoulder. “Please. I know it must have been a frustrating trial, but two months time is not a lot. He isn’t nearly as experienced as you are, you can’t expect him to do everything the way you want it to be done.”</p><p>Feng sighed angrily before plopping down next to Nea. “Whatever. That game fucking blew and you all know it.” she muttered, and soon enough, everything was back to being quiet.</p><p>“Thank God I didn’t have to intervene…,” Dwight muttered to Jake. “Feels like I got my soul sucked out after that trial. She’s being rude about it, but she’s not wrong. That one was awful.”</p><p>“I could imagine…,” Jake sighed. “Did she go for <em> any </em> rescues that round, though? Any at all?”</p><p>Dwight frowned. “Only for Zarina’s first hook. I think she didn’t want to touch me. Or Felix for that matter.”</p><p>Jake rolled his eyes. He would be lying if he said he wasn’t the type to hold a grudge, but for the most part, he tried not to with the other survivors. Some of them, though, made that really hard, and Feng was no exception.</p><p>It was almost funny. She reminded him so much of himself when he first came here into their little group. From the start, she had always been so ruthless. Selfish. Now, though, she was just… she was kind of a little shit. Even now, she would look out mostly for herself, but ever since her, Nea, and Meg somehow became friends, that sense of self-preservation managed to tone down massively.</p><p>That girl still pushed generators like no other, though. Usually that would be a great thing, but the problem with the way <em> Feng </em> did it was that she left people to <em> die </em> on their first hooks because of it.</p><p>Jake just… he didn’t get it. Why would she do that? Why? And— he wrinkled his nose. And what was with the stupid <em> gamer lingo </em> that she kept thinking up of? Why did everyone just <em> use </em> it?</p><p>Jake blinked when someone snapped their fingers in front of his face. Jake scowled, looking up to see which dickhead had the audacity to do <em> that </em> when he met eyes with Nea.</p><p>“Hey,” she said in a low voice. “Can I talk to you later?”</p><p>“What do you want?” he snapped.</p><p>“I meaaan… I don’t knowww, I just…,” Nea glanced at Dwight who was listening in next to him before peering back at Jake. “Um. Sabotaging. Teach me how to do it.”</p><p>Jake blinked. “Now?”</p><p>Nea rolled her eyes. “Didn’t you hear what I just said? No, not now. Later.”</p><p>Jake scowled again as she walked back to her spot with Feng and Meg. It was always those two. <em> Always </em>.</p><p>“What was that about?” Dwight asked him.</p><p>Jake sighed. “No idea.”</p><p>Now out of his trance, Jake was able to tune back into the conversation at the campfire for the night. Apparently they were talking about recent trials, because Meg was boasting about lightburning the Wraith.</p><p>“It was fucking awesome! He was really screwing us over that whole match handing out Sloppies like they were hot potatoes, but I managed to plunder a flashlight and ohhh my God, did I have a <em> field day </em> with that,” she cackled. “Lightburns, my children. Lightburns <em> everywhere. </em>”</p><p>Nea high fived her.</p><p>“Is it my turn to go yet?” Ace asked. “The Deathslinger, right? Tense match. Two dead, two alive. Three gens to go. We all know the feeling.” Several of the survivors nodded grimly. “So anyway, it was just me and Laurie here left. No chance at hatch yet, still invisible. Then the Slinger rolled around, and <em> boy </em> , did he <em> roll around. </em>”</p><p>Laurie rolled her eyes, but Jake could tell she was amused.</p><p>“It was… surprising. To say the least,” she mused. “He ran him well.”</p><p>“Well? I think I ran him a lot better than well!” Ace laughed. “He got an early hit on me, I gotta admit, and it was Hell running around with a wound that deep and not getting a single break to mend, but Laurie and I? We pulled through <em>together</em>. The amount of shots he couldn’t land, it was <em>astounding.</em> <em>Mind-blowing.</em> Absolutely <em>crazy. </em>Lady Luck may as well have just married me at that point!” </p><p>“Serves the old croak right…,” David grumbled. “Tunneled me right out of that match.”</p><p>“He really did,” Ace mourned before his face broke back out into his signature grin. “But we still made it out, and if that didn’t feel <em> good </em>, I don’t know what would.”</p><p>“It did feel good,” Laurie admitted.</p><p>“Well, we had a trial with the Oni,” spoke up Quentin. He chuckled. “It was kind of miserable.”</p><p>“Ohhh my fucking God, don’t even get me <em> started </em> on the Oni,” Feng began. “I hate that scumbag <em> so </em> much. His body is <em> literally </em> shaped like a ravioli can on the verge of bursting, it’s fucking ridiculous. Like, the Oni? He’s a bigger bitch than the fucking Spirit is and that’s <em> saying </em> some shit! At least <em> she </em> gets it over with, all <em> he </em> ever does is <em> slug! </em> Like— is that not the most braindead strat <em> ever? </em> And fuck Infectious, too, doesn’t take even <em> half </em> a frontal lobe to do the shit he does!”</p><p>“... Feng, are you okay?” Jeff asked after a long stretch of silence.</p><p>Feng looked at him. “Jeff, do I look okay?”</p><p>Jeff opened his mouth. Then closed it. Then opened it again and then closed it. He sighed and shook his head.</p><p>“Um… do <em> you </em> know what Infectious is?” Dwight whispered to Jake. Jake groaned. Did <em> anybody </em> know what ‘Infectious’ was? There was no way in Hell anyone could even understand half the terms Feng flung around. Not Jake, not Meg, not even Nea.</p><p>Speaking of…</p><p>“Hey, I’m gonna go and talk to Nea. Going into the woods,” Jake murmured to him, getting up. </p><p>“Alright. Be back soon!” Dwight smiled. Jake resisted the urge to smile back as he moved behind the logs and shuffled his way over to Nea. He nudged her and tilted his head towards the woods, and getting the memo, she stood up.</p><p>“Jake and I are heading out by the way,” she loudly announced. “So…  if we don’t come back we’re probably in a trial. Or dead. Have fun.”</p><p>“Without you?” Meg whined. “That’s impossible.”</p><p>Nea laughed. “Oh, trust me, Meg, you of all people do <em> not </em> need me to have fun. Peace.”</p><p>She turned back to Jake to see him giving her a withering look.</p><p>Nea frowned. “What?”</p><p>Jake squinted at her for a little longer before huffing and trudging out into the forest. No concept of subtlety apparently. </p><p>“<em> What? </em>” Nea repeated.</p><p>Jake and Nea didn’t get along at first. That wasn’t something anyone would be surprised to hear, because they didn’t get along with <em> anyone </em>at first. It’s just… their case was a little extreme.</p><p>To be frank, they were assholes. Just straight up assholes. The campfire was tense when Nea had joined. Dwight and Jake already weren’t on good terms, even with Claudette and Meg trying to mediate.</p><p>Jake just… before coming into the Fog, he never really… got <em> along </em> with anyone. And Dwight didn’t like that. He wanted everyone to work as a team, but Jake didn’t make that very easy for them. Dwight thought he was a prick, Jake thought he was a twerp, Meg was uncomfortable because she didn’t know how to fix it, and Claudette was upset because she cared for them both and neither would make the effort to change. Nea being added to the mix only made things worse.</p><p>Jake frowned to himself. It was strange, actually. She was like how Feng was— just like him. Never wanted to listen to anybody else, always wanted to do her own thing. Rarely made the effort to stop and help the others.</p><p>… Weird. Now that he thought about it, it was the ones that were just like him that he despised the most. Maybe he would have to think about that later, but that was beside the point.</p><p>The point was the two of them didn’t get along. If Jake ever spoke up, Nea was there to insult him for it, and if it were Nea saying something, Jake would always pretend she wasn’t. None of this did anything to help Dwight, either. The atmosphere was practically stagnant by the time Laurie joined them, but it was after Ace arrived that things finally changed.</p><p>“Okay, guys. You,” Meg had said, slamming a toolbox down in front of Jake, before pointing across the campfire at Nea. “And you.” Then at Dwight. “And finally, you.”</p><p>“... Yeah?” asked Dwight.</p><p>“You guys need to make up right now!” exclaimed Claudette, standing up next to Meg. She crossed her arms defiantly. “I like all of you, but you’re just… so mean to each other! And there isn’t even any point to it aside from just <em> being mean! </em>”</p><p>“Well, that’s a lot easier said than done,” Nea finally laughed after a long silence. She glanced between Dwight and Jake. “You dickheads with me on this one? I mean, we aren’t getting along overnight. Definitely not anytime soon, either.”</p><p>“Come on, Nea,” Ace spoke up. “Listen, Claude’s right. You kids are way too harsh on each other, and it’s doing none of us any favors, especially out here.”</p><p>Jake and Nea both frowned at him.</p><p>“Come on, don’t you guys have to save each other’s <em> lives </em>everyday?” Ace pleaded. “We’re stuck in Hell for God’s sake! I love you all, but it’s getting old.”</p><p>“It’s already <em> been </em> old…,” Meg grumbled from behind him. “But seriously! Listen to him! I can’t take another day of you idiots clawing at each other’s throats for no reason! Just be nice, it’s not <em> hard! </em>”</p><p>“They’re right,” Laurie sighed. “Come on, guys. We’re all sick of it. You, Dwight,” She pointed at Dwight. “Aren’t you supposed to be the leader? You’re good at it but you’re still arguing with them constantly when you should be getting along instead.”</p><p>“Well they don’t make it <em> easy! </em>” Dwight exploded. “I’ve been trying my best! Trying to work as a team, but neither of them want to cooperate! What do you even want me to do at that point?!”</p><p>“He’s right,” Claudette said. She turned to Jake looking very disappointed. Jake didn’t care about any of them, but that still made him feel a little guilty. “Come on, Jake, <em> please. </em> Just give Dwight a chance. We all want you to be a part of us, don’t you remember? When you first joined? It was because I wanted you here, Jake. I don’t want us to split up. Please."</p><p>Jake didn’t say anything. Meg sighed and turned to Nea. “Well, what about you?”</p><p>“What <em> about </em>me?” she bit back.</p><p>“I just— you guys need to <em> tone it down </em> already!” Meg yelled. “I can barely <em> breathe </em> over all the bitchiness, it’s <em> insane! </em> I know I’m not doing any favors yelling or whatever, but I don’t <em> care! </em> Aren’t you like— grownass adults? Just like the rest of us? Stop being sourpus little losers already and grow <em> up! </em>”</p><p>The campfire was silent. </p><p>“I mean… you didn’t have to call anyone names…,” Claudette said nervously. Meg shrugged.</p><p>“I kind of did. All I’m tryna say is you guys need to chill the Hell out. Nea, Jake,” She paused. “You have a lot more in common than you realize, you know that? And Dwight, I love you, but just because these idiots are being douchebags to you doesn’t mean you have to be a douchebag back.”</p><p>“It’s embarrassing…,” Laurie sighed. Seeing Dwight’s disheartened expression, she continued. “Not <em> just </em> you. All of you. I thought I would be back to babysitting when I first joined honestly, and you all are <em> older </em> than me.”</p><p>“You thought you’d go <em> back </em> to babysitting?” Ace chuckled. “I thought I’d have to <em> start </em> it. But yeah, the girls are right. Just… lighten up, will ya? Not good for the morale…”</p><p>And now Jake and Nea were friends.</p><p>Nea was right. The change didn’t happen overnight, but Jake was curious as to what Meg had meant when she said the two of them had a lot in common, and evidently, Nea was too. It was in a trial with the Trapper that they finally made a breakthrough. Apparently both decided giving each other the silent treatment wasn’t worth it at that point, and after a particularly satisfying victory, they both agreed it was Hell and called it a night.</p><p>After that, they just… started gravitating towards each other. More and more. Sit next to each other at the campfire, listen when one of them had something to say. Jake could still remember how triumphant Nea had looked when he chuckled at a joke she had made. Meg wouldn’t let go of it for <em> weeks </em>.</p><p>And then one night, Nea followed Jake into the forest with the intention of pestering him until he taught her how to hold in her grunts of pain and instead they stayed up talking about how much their parents fucking sucked.</p><p>After that, they became a… tag team of sorts. Jake was still quiet, but sitting by Nea as he always would, he would usually think up of something snarky she would laugh at. They were a nightmare for Dwight, but eventually things softened up over there, too, and they started seeing him just as everyone else did— their weird little leader.</p><p>If they were irritating to Dwight, though, they were <em> horrible </em>to the Trapper. He absolutely hated their guts. Nea’s generous tea-bags and Jake’s infuriating sabotages… Jake could recall a time where Meg started tallying up with Nea the amount of times they had been moried by him. It was exhausting for a while but having each other and everyone else at the campfire have their backs made things easier. </p><p>Things changed, though. Ever since Feng came. Nea had just started spending a lot less time with him and a lot more time with her instead. He didn’t mind it, obviously, he was a grown man. It’s just… he would never admit it, but he missed it sometimes. The days when they were closer. A tag team like no other. It was nice having that with someone.</p><p>… That isn’t to say they ever <em> liked </em> each other, though. Jake wrinkled his nose at the thought. Gross. Nea was a lesbian, and she was always <em> very </em> sure that everybody knew it, and Jake was… well. He and Dwight were kind of a— </p><p>“Hey, Earth to dipshit.”</p><p>Jake glared at Nea. “What?”</p><p>“We’ve been walking for like… the past five minutes. Are we gonna sit down and sabo or what?” she frowned, hand on her hip. Jake glanced around them. Dense forest, dead trees, thin fog. Familiar scenery. This would work. He turned to Nea.</p><p>“Yeah, this’ll do.”</p><p>“Okay, cool.”</p><p>The two took a seat at the base of the tree and Jake set his toolbox down. It was his favorite kind— “Alex’s Toolbox.” There were purple stamps on most of the tools inside with ‘owned by Alex’ written on them. Jake still had no idea who Alex was outside of being one of their preceding survivors, but he could still appreciate their commitment to being a bit of a bastard. Saws, vice grips, cutting wires… Jake once saw Ace doing repairs on a generator with one of these and had to stop himself from throttling him.</p><p>“Ahem.”</p><p>Jake glanced up to see Nea squinting at him. Oh right. “You wanna start with the basics?” he asked, sifting through the tools and procuring a brand new part. He frowned down at it. What was this doing here?</p><p>“Yeah, just one thing real quick.” Nea replied.</p><p>Jake sighed. “What?”</p><p>“Does Feng ever talk about me?”</p><p>After a hefty pause, Jake turned to her. “What?”</p><p>“Does Feng ever talk about me?” she repeated. “I mean, she has to, right? We’re always hanging out, and I think she thinks I’m funny or something. I mean, if I were her, I would think I’m funny too, but, uh… anyway. Does she talk about me?”</p><p>Jake stared at her, incredulous. “Why are you asking <em> me </em> this?” he finally frowned. “I don’t even <em> talk </em> to her. Haven’t you noticed that? You spend all your time with her anyway… And besides, haven’t you noticed were kind of… we don’t get <em> along? </em>”</p><p>“What?” Nea asked. “Well, I mean— well <em> yeah </em> , but I thought that whole thing was more like…,” She scrunched her face up. “I dunno, like <em> our </em> thing? Like the whole being assholes to each other schtick but we’re secretly best friends and everyone knows it. What, you just— do you seriously just not <em> like </em>her?"</p><p>Jake looked like he had bitten into a lemon rind. “Why are you telling me this again?”</p><p>Nea sighed, frustrated. “Well, I dunno. I was thinking you could… Y’know.”</p><p>“I don’t know.”</p><p>She pursed her lips. “Like… hook me up? Help me out a little?” Jake looked at her, speechless. Nea flushed. “Well if you’re going to be an <em> asshole </em> about it, then fuck you!”</p><p>“I just…,” Jake sighed, rubbing his eyes. “I don’t understand why you think <em> I </em> would be the one to do that. Why didn’t you ask, I don’t know, Ace? Or Dwight?”</p><p>Nea snorted. “Okay, Ace I can kind of get but <em> Dwight? </em> Really?”</p><p>Jake frowned, now feeling a little defensive. “What’s wrong with Dwight?” Nea squinted at him. “Okay, yeah, nevermind. But if you can get Ace, then why not him?”</p><p>Nea sighed. “I dunno, I mean… I guess he would probably be cool about it, but… I dunno. He’s just. Old. And weird. Like, I love the guy, we all do, but come on, just think about it. Imagine <em> you’re </em>Feng and Ace walks up and is like… ‘Hey, Feng! Nea thinks you’re super hot. Wanna play Poker?’ I mean— I would think he was fucking with me!” She turned to Jake. “You see what I mean?”</p><p>Jake frowned another time, but he did have to admit, she made a fair point. “Well, what about Quentin?” he offered. “He makes sense, right? He’s kind of friends with her.” Nea didn’t look impressed. “<em> Fine. </em> Not Quentin. But what about Steve?”</p><p>The look she was giving him now was really irritating him. Those two weren’t even bad picks. <em> They </em>would do it.</p><p>Jake sighed. “What about the girls?”</p><p>“Dude,” Nea said, exasperated. “You’re literally my best friend. Can’t you just do me a solid? Just this once?”</p><p>“... I’m your best friend?” he asked.</p><p>“Is that a yes or a no?”</p><p>Jake frowned. “Okay. Fine. I’ll do it.”</p><p>Nea whooped and pumped the air with her fist. “<em> Fuck </em>yeah!”</p><p>“Did you even want to learn how to sabotage or did you just drag me out here so you could ask me to be your wingman?” Jake scoffed.</p><p>“What? Oh, yeah. That. I mean, yeah, I didn’t actually wanna learn to sabo shit, but hey! That’d be fun.” Her eyes lit up. “Ohh, dude, you<em> have </em> to teach me how to sabo! Can you imagine how much Feng would want to makeout with me if I pulled off a save with that? Dude, maybe I could even coordinate some shit with Yui if I ever get into a trial with her <em> and </em> Feng! That shit would be <em> divine. </em>”</p><p>That had to be the first time Jake had heard Nea use the word ‘divine,’ but he just sighed for what felt like the tenth time that night. “Yeah. Divine.”</p><p>… </p><p>It was when he had just finished wrapping up that Jake felt a familiar tingling in his fingers. Even without looking down at them he knew they were disintegrating. He groaned.</p><p>“What’s up?” Nea asked, turning to him and then noticing his hands. “Oh, damn. That sucks. Good luck with your trial, buddy.”</p><p>“Yeah, thanks. Good luck with Feng, I guess.”</p><p>Nea grinned. “Thanks, man. Gonna go and talk to her whenever I get back to the campfire.” She paused to frown. “Kinda fucked up you’re just ditching me like this, though. Means I have to take all this shit back myself. You sure this wasn’t some kind of plan of yours, <em> Park? </em>”</p><p>“It’s one toolbox, it’s not the end of the world,” Jake sighed. “And you really think I can control when the Entity takes me to a trial? I don’t want this shit either.”</p><p>“Relax, man, I was just joking. You know I was, anyway,” Nea laughed. “But yeah, good luck, dude. You’re gonna need it.”</p><p>“You’ll need it too,” Jake snorted, up to his neck now. Nea laughed again and Jake could have <em> sworn </em> she threw up some finger guns at him before he vanished.</p><p>Jesus. Meg was really rubbing off on her, wasn’t she? And— Jake still couldn’t get over what she had said. He wasn’t her <em> best friend, </em> Feng was. Feng and Meg. Not him. And speaking of those three… </p><p>Meg, Nea, and Feng. Jake was sure that any of the killers with the bare minimum of common sense hated their guts. They were a trio like no other, for better or for worse. You would always know trouble was on the way if you were at the campfire and saw the three of them evaporating alongside you.</p><p>Feng called what they did ‘builds.’ Nea called what they did ‘throwing the match.’</p><p>Jake remembered being lucky enough to witness them in action— Meg got downed by the Shape but before he could pick her up, Nea swooped in and picked her up immediately using the trick she had learned from Zarina, taking her own health state down a peg, too. The Shape tried to stab Meg back to the ground, but she just took the hit and ran, and when he turned to Nea to down her instead, she charged forward with the dash that David had taken the time to teach everyone.</p><p>It was actually pretty funny. The entire trial continued just like that. One of the girls would get downed and then another would come in for the save, and everytime, they would just get away. Jake didn’t think the Shape could even get angry, but when he <em> finally </em> hooked Meg later, he saw him hit her with a nasty slash before storming off.</p><p>They were a spectacle. No doubt about it. So completely different from one another, but still found themselves bound together by what they had in common— their shared taste for mischief. Even at the campfire they were the same way. Always sitting together and laughing, cracking jokes, making remarks, but always in good fun. After spending all that time with one another, it was only inevitable that they’d start rubbing off on each other, too.</p><p>Feng had already been one of the sneakier types, but after enough months by Nea’s side, she was practically silent. Jake could go entire trials without seeing her. Meg was different, but she still picked up the same stealthy habits Nea always had. Knowing how to make their way around without detection didn’t do anything to change how cocky they would be once in the spotlight, though. Maybe they <em> were </em> just like this but Jake was still pretty sure that if it weren’t for Nea, they wouldn’t be clicking their flashlights insufferably at the Cannibal and calling him names.</p><p>Meg did a decent number on the other two herself. Somehow, Meg had met the survivor that took the trials the most seriously and melted off all the edge from her. Feng was still as focused as she had started, but she had let loose in ways she hadn’t when she first arrived. Flipping off killers, taking everything so much lighter than before. She still got infuriated at losses, but fear was a concept she probably hadn’t thought of in ages. Nea was no different— she was never scared. Always joking around now when she barely cracked a smile back then.</p><p>And for Nea and Meg… Jake grimaced. There were other things of course, but those two were the first that started the trend of following Feng’s <em> bullshit lingo. </em> What did any of it even <em> mean? </em> And why did everyone just accept it? Even the newer survivors would join in eventually.</p><p>Of course, they would question it at first. All of them did, but it didn’t take very long before they just shrugged it off and dealt with it. Try learning it for themselves even. Jake wasn’t surprised that Felix was someone who filed under that category, but… Jane Romero? Jane <em> Romero? </em> Why? It was so weird. The TV show host he would see everywhere back in the 2000s that then drove off a cliff and <em> died </em> was now here in this hellscape with him and his friends, scolding David for… tea-bagging the killer.</p><p>Jake scoffed at the thought when he heard the sound of paper burning away. He blinked up to see the ashes of the offerings blowing away into the mist.</p><p>Dammit. He was so lost in his thoughts he forgot to look at what everyone offered before the cards had disappeared. He halfheartedly hoped it wasn’t a mori as the ashes disappeared completely and everything faded back to black.</p><p>Jake looked around now, eying the faint plumes of dark mist surrounding him. It was cold, and it was never pleasant waiting alone like this. It wasn’t the dark he minded. Not after spending so much of his life in it. It was the fog that would put him off. </p><p>The survivors offered the fog sometimes, actually. On occasion, one of them would scrounge up a bottle filled with reagents and toss it into the fire for it to burn. When they would get into their trial, there would be dark clouds rolling around everywhere. It made it much easier to hide and the only times it actually benefited the killers would be if they were one of the stealthier ones. Even then, the Pig and Ghostface were the ones that got the most use out of it. The Wraith and the Shape had a little more trouble with that.</p><p>The problem with the mist, though, was that there was just… something about it. Something <em> wrong. </em> Jake could still remember the way back when they would gorge on bottles of the stuff, throwing one or several into the fire back to back for every trial. The change was subtle, but it was unpleasant. Claudette was the one that noticed it first. She became a lot more sensitive, a lot more irritable. It was unlike her, but she pointed out that <em> everyone </em> was unlike how they usually were. Meg became uncharacteristically gloomy, Dwight never had any patience for anyone, and Jake was always just… so, so angry. The slightest inconvenience was enough to push him over the edge.</p><p>He tried not to think about it most of the time. They all said a lot of things to each other they didn’t mean.</p><p>After Claudette had noticed something was wrong, Dwight was able to trace the problem back to the bottles, and ever since figuring that out, they were sure to be a lot wiser in using them.</p><p>Jake could still remember Meg unscrewing the cork off of the clearer variant of the reagent, saying she would just see what a drop of it would do to her skin. She accidentally poured about a third of it onto her arm instead, but it didn’t hurt her. In fact, she said it felt a lot <em> better </em>. The water had turned murky and gray, and when she wiped it off, the patches of skin it had spilled onto were so much more vibrant than they had been before.</p><p>Meg being Meg immediately proposed they try bathing in it to expel whatever “nasty shit” was infecting them, but Dwight shut that down. He said just limiting their usage of the fog thickeners would be better. He wanted to conserve the clear kind so they wouldn’t just run out of it immediately trying something they probably even shouldn’t. Meg wasn’t happy about it, but everyone knew it was the better idea. Dwight had a tendency to have those.</p><p>Jake looked up when the darkness began dissipating and the fog parted. He blinked as his eyes adjusted, taking in teeming pipes and a room reddened with fire.</p><p>Badham. Could be worse.</p><p>There was a generator waiting to his right, and looking up, he could see the hole in the ceiling. The basement of the preschool. Nice. The <em> basement </em> basement wasn’t here, though, which was good. Apparently they had lucked out, though it <em> would </em> be in shack, so he would have to watch out for that. If the killer wasn’t stupid or merciful and he got downed running through it, that definitely wasn’t going to be ending well.</p><p>Jake’s ears piqued at the sound of a distant chainsaw revving. From what he could hear, it sounded a lot higher pitched than the Cannibal’s, and it sounded like it was going on for a lot longer, too.</p><p>The Hillbilly. He must be running around the map. Shouldn’t be too bad, Jake would just have to hide once he made close progress on his generator. One of his abilities apparently gave him a warning when generators were about seventy five percent there and diminished his terror radius.</p><p>Across the map, Steve screamed. Jake winced when he saw his red outline toppling to the floor.</p><p>That wasn’t good. Jake hadn’t even gotten a full quarter through his generator and he came into the trial directly next to it. He frowned as Steve was picked up, his own aura disappearing as the white ones of every hook on the map showed themselves to Jake. It wasn’t long before Steve screamed again as he was hoisted up onto a hook.</p><p>One hook and no generators done. Great. But that at least told him who came with him. Steve and Jake… who else?</p><p>Not even a full twenty seconds later and he heard Nancy cry out. Jake swore when he connected the two wires he had been zapping together too harshly for the Entity’s liking and the generator blew up in his face. He groaned, letting go of it, only to find out something even worse— it was still sparking.</p><p>Ruin. Goddammit.</p><p>Ruin was one of the killers’ abilities. The survivors didn’t know <em> all </em> the names for them, if any, but Ruin in particular was one that everybody got to know pretty quickly. It was one of the more popular picks, originating from the Hag, but it used to just be one you would see on passing occasions. Actually, it used to be a lot worse, but that was something to be discussed some other time. Point was, it wasn’t uncommon, but it wasn’t in every trial, either.</p><p>Ever since the Blight had joined, though, things had changed. It felt like it was in every other goddamn trial now. The Blight had brought in another hex that was paired with Ruin constantly. Adam had proposed to name it Undying. Feng, on the other hand, had affectionately referred to it as “the hex for the most pussy-ass easy gen-pressure strategy in the fucking history of this godforesaken place.”</p><p>Everyone else called it Undying, obviously, but she wasn’t entirely wrong even if half of what she said sounded like gibberish. There was nothing quite like going through the dreadful task of cleansing a lit totem only for whatever curse it was to move onto a dull one. Jake didn’t even bother trying to cleanse these days because he knew it would barely be worth it.</p><p>Jake pursed his lips as he watched Nancy start crawling. Would their fourth teammate go for either of the saves? Maybe, but maybe not. Jake didn’t want to take his chances, especially with the Hillbilly getting a much better start than he did. With great reluctance, he got up from where he was kneeling and started up the stairs to get out of the school.</p><p>“Jake! My man!” Steve exclaimed as he approached, looking far too happy for someone that should be half-dead. Jake rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Be quiet. He might be near.”</p><p>Nancy’s scream rang out across the map as she was hooked. They both stared at where she was before turning back to each other. Steve raised an eyebrow. “You sure about that, bud?”</p><p>Jake sighed and didn’t bother to dignify him with a response. With a grunt, he hoisted him up and off the hook.</p><p>“Ugh…,” Steve winced. “You never get used to it.”</p><p>Ignoring him as he dug through his medkit for his needle and thread, Jake asked, “Who’s our fourth?”</p><p>Steve’s face scrunched up in thought. “Uh… I don’t know, I wasn’t really paying attention. Was busy trying to burn one of my envelopes in time. Need the extra BP, y’know?”</p><p>Jake stared at him before slowly pressing the needle into his skin.</p><p>“Ow, ow, ow, hey, easy, <em> easy </em> with that thing! You’re doing that on purpose, man, I know you are!” Steve hissed before hesitating and giving him an uncertain (still pained) look. “I mean, you <em> are </em> doing that on purpose, right?”</p><p>“You have any guesses for who it was?” Jake asked, getting started on stitching the wound shut. Just having his hands on Steve’s wound would be enough to meld the skin back together, but about a week ago, Meg joked about how sensual it was— nursing someone back to proper health by rubbing your hands all over their back for about 16 seconds. (Adam enlisted Zarina and Tapp’s help to figure out the numbers.) Jake still wasn’t sure what to make of it, so he had just been bringing medkits for the past few trials, wanting to stick to the gauze and needles. Meg, however, had continued to make a point of never using a medkit on him. He hoped she wasn’t their fourth.</p><p>“I think it was Feng,” Steve said from below him. “She was next to Meg last I checked, and when I looked back up before I got snatched, she was just gone.”</p><p>Damn. Looked like Nea wasn’t going to “go talk to Feng” after all.</p><p>“Alright,” Jake sighed. That explained no one had come for the rescue before him. ‘Gens before friends’ as she always liked to say.</p><p>After getting him patched up, Jake sent Steve on his way over to Nancy. He knew all too well that Feng wouldn’t be bothered to go instead, especially with Ruin still up.</p><p>Sure enough, he heard the sound of a gen popping across the map. Jake rolled his eyes before starting down the stairs of another one of the recognizable structures in Badham. It was one that showed up in Haddonfield, too. A weird building with two staircases that led down towards the same basement. Once he had made it down the stairs, Jake glanced around. No generator in sight. It must be a little further in— in the room out back.</p><p>As he got to work on the generator, he let his mind drift. He wasn’t exaggerating when he told Nea he didn’t get along with Feng. They rarely had all-out arguments, Jake wasn’t the type for that, but they were never <em> nice </em> to each other, either. He didn’t… <em> hate </em> her, but the way she would handle trials wasn’t something he was fond of. It reminded him too much of his old self, just like Nea. They <em> tolerated </em> each other. For Nea’s sake, their own sakes, and everybody else’s sake. No matter how much they got onto each other’s nerves.</p><p>Jake grit his teeth when he felt his heartbeat start picking up. The generator was halfway completed, but Ruin was <em> still </em> up. He wouldn’t be surprised if Nancy had managed to cleanse every dull totem instead of either of the lit ones. As he got into a locker, he wondered… Was the Hillbilly coming here by himself or did someone bring him over?</p><p>“Hey,<em> ugly! </em>” he heard a very familiar voice hoot as it descended down the stairs. Well, that answered his question. The telltale sound of a clicking flashlight came from the next room, and Jake rolled his eyes as Feng continued. “Nice whiffs earlier there, sweat lord! You done drooling yet or are you just gonna keep giving us an easy game?”</p><p>He could hear her dropping the pallet and the Hillbilly groaning. And then… she was vaulting it. She was vaulting the pallet straight into him. Into the <em> Hillbilly. </em></p><p>There was the sound of a hammer squelching against flesh and Feng yelping. Apparently the Hillbilly <em> was </em> “done drooling.” Jake pursed his lips, eying his regressing generator from where he was hidden inside the locker. When he heard Feng squeal back upstairs, he wanted to poke his own eyes out. He couldn’t see her aura from inside the locker, but he knew what kind of scream that was— she had been downed.</p><p>The shrill scream Feng gave after being hooked grinded on Jake’s ears, but he steeled himself and just let out a deep sigh. Above him, the Hillbilly revved up his chainsaw and let loose a garbled yell as he took off across the map.</p><p>Jake glanced at his generator. It was already regressed back to a quarter of its total progress. It was only going to lose even more whenever he went up to unhook and heal Feng. Great. Feeling more than a little irritated now, Jake quietly made his way out of the locker before darting up the stairs.</p><p>“What the Hell were you doing?!” Feng snapped when he made it outside, somehow still having enough of a bite to be an awful person even with a metal hook speared through her shoulder. “Hiding in a fucking locker instead of doing gens? Am I the only one of this team that’s even mildly competent?!”</p><p>Jake was baffled.</p><p>“Are you— <em> you </em> were the one that brought the Hillbilly over here in the first place with Ruin still up,” he seethed. “I was working on the generator downstairs and was about halfway there up until you came in taunting him like a jackass. It’s already going to be back down to zero by the time I finish healing you.”</p><p>Feng scoffed. “Whatever. Just get me off the hook and heal me.”</p><p>Jake scowled. Why did Nea have to like such a huge bitch?</p><p>“Where was the gen you were working on? The back of the basement?” Feng asked once they were heading back down the staircase. Jake nodded and she smiled devilishly. “Let’s genrush this asshole.”</p><p>Jake wished he wasn’t alive.</p><p>The two got to quick work on the generator once they got downstairs. Feng seemed happy enough about it, but Jake was feeling more annoyed than anything. Over four years of being stuck in this hellhole with three of them spent with her, and he still had no idea what the fuck “genrushing” was supposed to mean. He used to just think it was doing gens, then doing gens fast, then Feng’s stupid thing of letting people <em> die </em> because she wanted to stick onto gens instead… just. What the Hell did genrushing mean? Did even <em> Feng </em> know? Was there <em> any </em> solid definition? And how the <em> Hell </em> was he supposed to convince Feng to <em> go on a date with Nea? </em></p><p>Jake froze when he heard the snarling right behind him. He whipped around to see the Hillbilly already revving up his chainsaw, and a frantic glance to his side told him that Feng had long since ditched.</p><p>He didn’t even bother trying to wiggle when the Hillbilly picked him up. Jake slid easily onto the hook, and he clamped his teeth down onto his bottom lip to hold back the scream. His knees curled up to his chest on instinct as he squeezed the tip of the hook in his hands before they dropped back for his feet to dangle over the floor.</p><p>You never got used to the pain. It became familiar, something to dread, but never something that would get more bearable.</p><p>A generator popped in the distance. Jake squinted and saw Steve’s outline running from where it had finished, and he dropped his head back down in relief. Progress. Thank God.</p><p>When he noticed a yellow aura running along the wall of the building towards him about half a minute later, Jake peeled his chin from his chest to get a better look.</p><p>It was… Feng, and… she was headed straight this way. And his heartbeat was getting… </p><p>Ah.</p><p>Jake watched with wide eyes as Feng barreled straight towards him, miraculously uninjured, while the Hillbilly followed behind in hot pursuit. She grabbed him and with what seemed like all her might, jerked him up and off the hook. His skin suddenly felt like it was hardened over with iron.</p><p>Borrowed Time.</p><p>“Tank the hit, tank the hit!” she screamed, yanking his hand in hers and dragging him after her, Hillbilly right at their heels.</p><p>“What the fuck does that <em> mean?! </em> ” Jake yelled back. “Feng, he’s revving the <em> saw </em> , what does that <em> mean? </em>”</p><p>“<em> You— </em> !” Feng bellowed. “It means, just— are you <em> stupid?! </em> Use your <em> brain! </em> Let him hit <em> you </em> so he doesn’t hit <em> me! </em>”</p><p>Realization dawning, Jake dove just in time for the Hillbilly to chainsaw him instead of Feng. With the boost in speed gifted from taking the hit, he took off running across the map right towards the preschool. He came to a halt once he was inside and stopped to mend the wound, panting.</p><p>“Hey. Stupid. I’m still here,” Jake scowled, turning to see Feng frowning down at him, arms crossed. She waved him over. “Let me do it.”</p><p>Jake rolled his eyes, but his vision was starting to go gray and the wound looking worryingly deep. He was pretty sure he would collapse if he didn’t get it fixed soon. Still panting, he dropped to the floor and closed his eyes as Feng started mending him.</p><p>While waiting, he realized that now would be the perfect time. He could ask her about Nea. Right now, while she was healing him.</p><p>“Feng?” he croaked.</p><p>“Mmm.”</p><p>“What do you think of Nea?”</p><p>Jake had to stop himself from standing up to kick himself. <em> What do you think of Nea? </em> What kind of question was <em> that? </em></p><p>Apparently, Feng followed the same line of thought, because she looked at him suspiciously. “Well she’s my <em> friend. </em>”</p><p>“Yeah,” said Jake. “Uh. So do you… like her?”</p><p>Feng frowned. “Jake, did tanking that hit fuck with your head? Why are you acting like such a dipshit right now? Of course I like her, I literally just said she’s my friend.”</p><p>“Okay, <em> asshole, </em> if you’re gonna be like that then fuck you, too!” Jake snapped. “All I was trying to do was hook you and Nea up together because for some reason I’m never going to be able to figure out, she <em> likes </em> you, but—”</p><p>Feng stabbed him in surprise. Jake couldn’t stop himself in time and screamed.</p><p>“WHAT? HUH? SHE—” Feng spluttered. “SHE WHAT? <em> WHAAAT? </em>”</p><p>“Holy <em> shit </em> , can you shut <em> up </em> and finish <em> healing me! </em>” Jake snapped.</p><p>Feng hastily complied without another word. Jake could see her hands shaking as she drew his wounds closed. Her face seemed flushed and… was she <em> sweating? </em> Jake resisted the urge to snort. Holy shit. These two had it for each other <em> bad </em>.</p><p>“I just—” she finally stammered when she was done. “I… Nea?”</p><p>“Yes, Nea.” Jake said tiredly.</p><p>“I… I’m…,” she pointed to herself. “Me? Her? Nea and— and me?”</p><p>“Nea and you.”</p><p>“I’m… can you…,” Feng gulped. “Can you tell me more?”</p><p>Jake opened his mouth to reply when he was cut off by a scream. Annoyed, the two of them turned to see Steve’s crumpled aura across the map.</p><p>“Well, guess that’s the last of him we’re gonna be seeing for now…” Feng said dryly.</p><p>“What?” Jake asked. “What do you mean?”</p><p>He didn’t appreciate the look Feng gave him.</p><p>“Did you not see the secret offering?” she asked. “Why do you think I wanted you to tank the hit for me so badly earlier? I don’t wanna get moried off first hook my first match of the day, as far as I’m concerned, that shit hasn’t been nerfed yet!”</p><p>Ah. So it <em> was </em> a mori. Jake turned to see Steve’s aura still downed on the floor. The rev of a chainsaw rung out across the map, and a few seconds later, the toll of death chimed in their ears.</p><p>Jake groaned. “Shit.”</p><p>Nancy screamed, and Feng barked out a laugh. “The second time this match! Holy shit, are you kidding me?!”</p><p>Jake sighed and turned to Nancy’s aura, feeling more than a little irritated. But the rev of the chainsaw never came. Instead, Nancy was being… </p><p>Picked up?</p><p>Jake saw Feng’s eyes blow wide in the corner of his eye. “He has BBQ!” she shouted, shoving him towards the locker. “Go! Go, get in!”</p><p>“BB… BBQ?” Jake asked. “<em> What? </em>”</p><p>Feng looked at him as if he grew another head. “Do you not know the fucking killer meta?” she asked, baffled. “Jake, aren’t you like… the fourth person to come here?”</p><p>“No, Nea was here before any of us were. Shouldn’t you <em> know </em> that?” Jake scoffed. “And what’s BBQ? What the fuck is the ‘killer meta?’”</p><p>“Just shut up and get in the locker!” Feng hissed, slamming her own door shut and without a single sound. Meg must have taught her that trick. Jake was feeling pretty exasperated at this point, but Feng seemed serious so, with a great measure of reluctance, he complied. Nancy’s second scream came soon after, and then a few moments later, there was a… familiar pressure in the air.</p><p>“Is she—” Feng said from inside her locker before getting out next to him. She gaped openly towards where Nancy had been hooked. “Oh my <em> God </em> , she <em> is! </em> Jake, that bitch just <em> killed herself! </em> Holy fucking shit, am I the only one on this team that isn’t completely braindead?!”</p><p>“I’m still here…,” Jake grumbled as he slid out of his own locker. “And it’s annoying, but she probably didn’t want to deal with the mori, either.”</p><p>“So?! I don’t want to either, but I’m not giving up on hook over <em> that! </em>That’s so fucking stupid! Like does she not even have the bare minimum of patience to wait for us?”</p><p>“Well we aren’t exactly making ourselves out to be the most productive teammates when both of us are hiding inside lockers across the map,” Jake pointed out. “We still have three generators to go. Nancy probably doesn’t want to deal with that. We only need another before the hatch is visible, too, so she did us a favor.”</p><p>“Big favor she did increasing the workload,” Feng scoffed. “Whatever. Is there a gen down here?”</p><p>“Yeah. I started here, it’s downstairs by the hole. Come on.”</p><p>It was while Jake was reaching inside the generator that Feng cleared her throat from next to him. “So like… about Nea.”</p><p>Jake rolled his eyes. “Yeah. About Nea.”</p><p>“What did she say?”</p><p>“I mean…,” Jake shrugged. “She asked if I ever talked about you, I guess.”</p><p>“And what did you say?” Feng asked, eyes big. Jake gave her a weird look.</p><p>“What do you think? We’re barely even friends, I said no.”</p><p>“<em> Jake! </em> Come on, what the fuck?” Feng exclaimed. “You didn’t screw up my chances saying that, did you? Ohhh my God, Park, if you did… I swear to <em> God, </em> if you—”</p><p>“No! I didn’t! Did you miss the part where she asked me to hook you two up?” Jake snapped back. “And why do you guys keep calling me Park? That’s supposed to only be Nea’s… thing.”</p><p>Jake realized his mistake too late. Feng was staring at him with the biggest eyes and an absolutely ecstatic grin.</p><p>“No fucking way,” she laughed. “Did Jake ‘I don’t <em> do </em> friends’ Park just admit to Nea being his <em> bestie? </em>”</p><p>“<em> She </em> called <em> me </em> her best friend,” he huffed. “And I’ve never said that.”</p><p>“Yeah you have.” Feng said smugly.</p><p>Jake raised an eyebrow. “No I haven’t.”</p><p>Feng’s smile dropped into a frown. “You’re really no fun, you know that?”</p><p>“Whatever. But Nea came up to me and asked me to teach her how to sabotage hooks, and when we went into the woods, she asked me to…,” Jake sighed. “wingman for the two of you instead.”</p><p>Feng giggled, looking uncharacteristically flattered. “What else did she say?” she prodded, leaning towards him. “Come on, tell me, Jake, give me something to work with here!”</p><p>“Nothing else,” Jake snapped. Then when he saw how dejected Feng looked, he softened. “Well, there was this one other thing.”</p><p>Feng perked up. “Oh yeah?”</p><p>“Yeah. She said she did actually want to learn how to sabotage so she could do some sabo saves for you. Said it would be…,” Jake grimaced. “<em> Divine. </em>”</p><p>“Well she’s damn right!” Feng exclaimed, yanking away at the generator. “I swear, if she <em> did </em> do a sabo save, I would wiggle right off the killer’s shoulder <em> just </em> to makeout with her.”</p><p>Jake rolled his eyes again, but if he were being honest, it was actually… kind of cute. It was nice. Knowing the girl Nea was so ridiculously in love with and spent all her time on was in love with her back. He cleared his throat after a long pause. “Do you wanna talk about her?”</p><p>Feng stopped working on the generator and blinked at him owlishly. “Talk… about her?”</p><p>“Uh… Yeah? What was it like when you guys first met?” Jake asked. “I remember you not getting along with just about all of us. Especially her.”</p><p>Feng flushed. “Oh, um, yeah. Nea and I were like… We kind of hated each other’s guts. She didn’t like that I pumped gens so hard, and I didn’t like that she was so much better in chase than I was. It was kind of fucking stupid honestly, but when we were actually like, forced to work together, it ended up turning out… really good for us,” She paused. “Turns out we had a lot in common, too. Assholes. Shitty parents. Going off to do our own thing.”</p><p>Jake snorted. “Sounds familiar.”</p><p>Feng raised an eyebrow. “Familiar?” Jake could see the understanding dawning on her. “Ohhh, yeah, you’re fucked up like us too, aren’t you? Is that about you and Nea or me and you?”</p><p>“Me and Nea, but I guess it works with us, too,” Jake replied, pulling levers. Feng snickered. “What are you laughing at?”</p><p>“I don’t know,” she giggled. “I just think it’s funny that all of us hated each other’s guts until we realized we aren’t all that different after all.”</p><p>Jake bit back a smile. “You’re making it sound like you and I ever stopped.”</p><p>“Oh, shut <em> up, </em>” Feng groaned, putting her hand to her forehead, but it was all in good fun now. She peeked at him. “You think there’s some correlation between hating your parents and being pricks?”</p><p>Jake laughed at that. “Maybe there is,” he mused. “What do you like about Nea now?”</p><p>“Well,” Feng huffed, sitting back. “You know how I said I was kind of jealous of Nea because she was so good in chase? And Nea couldn’t stand me because I was like, crazy good on gens? Well we just used our brains and realized we could just… teach all that shit to each other. And we did. And we’re like… <em> perfect </em> for each other.”</p><p>“Perfect how?” Jake asked.</p><p>“I just—” she sighed, exasperated. “I don’t know, Jake, like. Nea is… she’s just so <em> hot. </em> And so fucking funny. And such an asshole and she’s so <em> perfect </em> for me, it’s insane. I genrush, she loops. I’m injured, she tanks the hits. I’m facecamped, she BTs. We’re like a match made in heaven.”</p><p>Jake, now resisting the urge to start tearing his hair out, replied, “Yeah. A match made in heaven.”</p><p>Feng laughed before suddenly going quiet. Then with her voice lowered, “Do you hear that?”</p><p>Jake listened in and nodded grimly. He could feel his heart pounding harder in his chest. The Hillbilly was approaching.</p><p>“Keep pumping the gen,” Feng hissed. “I’m gonna go out and draw some aggro. You get this finished and the hatch spawns, and if we’re lucky, it’s down here, too. Remember his Tinkerer.”</p><p>“Tinkerer?” Jake frowned. “What the Hell is that?” She was staring at him now. “<em> What? </em>”</p><p>“Wow, you… really don’t know the killer meta at all, do you?” Feng asked. “It’s okay. We’re buddies now, so I’ll fix that for you after this round. I’ll be back, just… his terror radius thing. Watch out for it.”</p><p>Jake stared after her as she hurried up the stairs before he sighed and shook his head, returning to the generator. Drawing aggro? Spawn? Tinkerer? Where did she <em> get </em> all this from?</p><p>And sandbagging. Why <em>sandbagging?</em> A lot of the others made sense, even if they were kind of questionable, he could understand them. But… sandbagging? Where did that one even <em> come </em> from? What went through Feng’s head when she thought of these? He just didn’t get it.</p><p>… But why would it matter either way?</p><p>It was just some term, wasn’t it? And he knew what it meant, kind of. Everyone else did, too. What was the harm in joining them in using it?</p><p>Jake blinked in surprise when he heard the ding of a finished generator and shielded his eyes from the now-blinding lights in the room. The four notches on each side of the generator were chugging along smoothly. More progress. That was good.</p><p>And then the Hillbilly’s terror radius came blasting back and that was less good.</p><p>In the corner of his eye, Jake saw Feng scrambling down the stairs, the Hillbilly hobbling from right behind her. When he noticed him standing in the middle of the room very much resembling a deer in headlights, the Hillbilly started revving his chainsaw. Jake ducked out of his way with only a second to spare and burst into cold sweats.</p><p>“FENG!” he screamed, fumbling down the hallway with her by his side. “WHY THE FUCK DID YOU JUST SANDBAG ME?! YOU KNEW I WAS DOWN HERE!”</p><p>“I’m sorry, I—!” Feng cried. And then she stopped and gawped at him. “Wait. Did you just— YOU DID! HOLY SHIT, YOU DID! TONIGHT IS MY FUCKING NIGHT! FUCK YES!” she screamed before promptly getting chainsawed into the floor.</p><p>Now splattered with blood, the Hillbilly shook off his hammer before slowly turning to Jake. He backed up against the wall and just hoped it wouldn’t be too painful, deciding that running wouldn’t even be worth it seeing his odds now.</p><p>Behind the Hillbilly, Feng strained to look into the small room tucked away in the corner. Her eyes went wide, and she whipped towards Jake. </p><p>“RUN FOR IT!” she screamed. “THE CREEPY ASS MATTRESS ROOM! RUN FOR IT!”</p><p>“What? Why?” Jake demanded.</p><p>“TRUST ME!”</p><p>“I—”</p><p>“DO IT!” she roared. “JUST DO IT!”</p><p>Jake, now wanting more than ever for this circus show to end because he was about to put his life into <em> Feng fucking Min’s hands </em>, decided: fuck it. And charged straight into the Hillbilly.</p><p>Startled by the sudden advance, the Hillbilly whacked him in the side with his sledgehammer. Jake sucked in a breath so as to not scream and dove between his legs to tear past after taking the hit. His eyes blew to the size of golfballs when he saw the hatch and he leapt on top of it, hoping, <em> praying </em> for a miracle.</p><p>“Sayonara, suckers,” said Feng before the toll of death rang out and she went still on the floor. Both the Hillbilly and Jake stared at her corpse, rigid and motionless with eyes empty and still open, when the hatch door suddenly swung up and smacked Jake in the face.</p><p>“Ow! Fuck!” he shouted before realizing just what the <em> fuck </em> Feng had done for him. Newly invigorated, he held his nose to stop the bleeding and scrambled to his feet, hopping into the hatch just in time for the Hillbilly to slam the door closed above him.</p><p>“FUCK YEEEEES!” Feng immediately howled when he manifested into the post-trial plane. “You got out, right? Through the hatch?”</p><p>“Yes, Feng, I got out through the hatch,” Jake sighed, but he would be lying if he said he wasn’t grateful. He pursed his lips to hold back his smile. “Thanks.”</p><p>“Yeah, you <em>better</em> be thanking me,” she groused. “I’m gonna be taking a <em>Hell</em> of a DC penalty after <em>that</em> one. And goodbye, 20k bloodpoints…”</p><p>Jake snorted. “Hey, it was your choice.”</p><p>“Oh, shut up. I’m never gonna DC to save your ass again,” Feng snapped before growing smug. “and you finally gave in, didn’t you?”</p><p>“Don’t even try it.” Jake deadpanned back.</p><p>“Wahh! Wahh! Oh, Feng Min, why did you have to sandbag? You nearly got me <em> killed! </em> Wahhh!” Feng mocked. Jake rolled his eyes, but he still couldn’t help but chuckle. “Anyway, we should probably be heading back, huh?”</p><p>“Yeah. The others are probably worried for us, it’s been a while now.”</p><p>“No it hasn’t. But also yeah. I wanna go talk to Nea anyway. Wish me luck!”</p><p>Jake grinned. “Good luck.”</p><p>The plane was silent then. Jake took a deep breath and sighed before he moved on and back to the campfire as well.</p><p>“Hey,” he heard Feng say when he materialized back. He turned to see her standing in front of Nea.</p><p>“Hey yourself,” Nea laughed back. “How was the trial? Did you finally warm up to Jake now?”</p><p>“Yeah, I guess you could say I did. And Nea?”</p><p>“Uh… yeah?”</p><p>Jake watched, almost awestruck, as Feng grabbed her face in her hands and kissed her. Once before she pulled back to milk in the way Nea was gawking at her, and then twice when she leaned back in to kiss her harder. When she pulled back again, Nea was still staring.</p><p>She turned to look at Jake and mouthed, “WHAT THE FUCK?”</p><p>Jake shrugged and smiled before he finally took his seat on his log and let himself settle.</p><p>“So, um…,” Dwight cleared his throat. “Are you gonna <em> tell me </em>about that?”</p><p>…</p><p>“Okay, so I actually expected you to get that done over like, the course of the next two weeks, not in a single trial, but Jake,” Nea began. “You beautiful, beautiful bastard, you. I swear to <em> God, </em> I am <em> never </em> going to fucking forget this.”</p><p>Jake chortled as he dug through the toolbox, searching for the instructions. “I hope you never do. You have no idea what kind of emotional labor I had to put myself through for that.”</p><p>“Oh, come on,” Nea groaned. “Can’t you stop being a hardass <em> just </em> this once?”</p><p>Jake rolled his eyes as he pulled out the scrap of paper. “Come on, let’s focus. You’re never going to learn how to sabotage at the rate that we’re going.”</p><p>“I have it unlocked in my bloodweb, it’ll happen <em> eventually…, </em>” she grumbled, picking at the screwdriver in her hands. “And you’re happy for us, admit it.”</p><p>Jake chuckled. “Maybe I am.”</p><p>Nea grinned, and this time, Jake grinned back.</p><p>… </p><p>Elsewhere, the Hillbilly dragged his hand along cold steel. His fingers caught on metal bars, and he stared at them, fascinated, before he looked up. He took the massive structures and winding breezeways above him with wonder. No matter how many times he had gone to the Ironworks of Misery, it never stopped being beautiful.</p><p>“Evan?” he finally called.</p><p>“What?” echoed the gruff voice from upstairs.</p><p>“Wha’sa sandbag?”<br/>
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  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>so! hope you enjoyed that!</p><p>i already have plans for some other fics (ace kidnaps victor, victor goes to ormond and it babysat by legion, spinoff to this wherein bugpatches are canon to the game and feng is fucking sick of it breaking constantly) so definitely look forward to those! and also some more elaborate ones that will probably never see the light of day but that's besides the point. thank you so much for reading, it really means a lot &lt;3 i love reading comments and will literally die for u if u leave something for me to read. thanks again!!!</p><p>(ily quinn, erika, and ves for betareading btw)</p><p>@biscuitjams on tumblr</p></blockquote></div></div>
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